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I just had a ball of a time making a Glogster poster collage.

Glogster is a tool which allows users to upload photos, videos, text, audio and more to create digital and interactive poster collages. Techers can use it to introduce new projects, while students can use it to present their work and findings.

Thanks to the possibility of using all different types of media Glogster can be used in working with any of the curriculum subjects; music, sports, technology, maths, history, science … It is user-friendly and can be used by students of all different levels, especially as the contents is decided by the creator. I can also see it used in collaboration in the classroom, where a larger group can create posters in unison using an onscreen projector.

When you register as a teacher you will receive an e-mail with student user names and passwords which you then distribute to your students. You can register up to 200 students at the initial registration. Students do not have to have their own e-mail account.

When you have registered a group of students you have a virtual classroom where your students will only be able to see the Glogs created within your group. They are furthermore only able to communicate with the members of the established school group.

Of course students can be encouraged to create their own private Glogster account to be used at their own leisure. There are lots of fun ways to use Glogster outside of school work; you could for example create a poster for someone’s birthday or for an anniversary. Glogster membership is furthermore a great way of making friends all over the world.

Posters can be printed, but then they of course loose their digital properties.

I had great fun at trying Glogster out. I made a poster about William Shakespear where I included written text, an audiofile, video clips and pictures. One is able to add links to everything to be able to present all sources. The link-feature is great; where I for example had a picture of the Globe Theatre I linked to the Wikipedia article about the same.

I look forward to using Glogster with my students this autumn. I will probably use it when I work with Medieval times in Engish class with my six and seven graders; when I do Geography with my six graders and when I work with Shakespear with the nine graders. I will probably ask my eight graders do book and author presentations in Swedish class. For my own part I am planning to make posters with video clips that I will want the students to watch in introduction to specific projects- a great way of having the videos presented in an foreseeable way.

I think it is important though to set up time limits and clear instructions concerning the contents of the posters. Reality dictates that the students time need to used wisely and in working with Glogster there is a “danger” of getting stuck in spending too much time on marvelling on all the different backgrounds, pictures, symbols and so forth that can be used.

An upgrading of Glogster Web 2.0 is scheduled for later this year. According to editors it will include, among other things: “Upload of endless material from numerous sources including text books, relevant photo galleries, reports/journals, microfiche/microfilm, CD-Rom, desktop files, etc.”, “Classroom and school groups for common projects and interests”, “Multiediting – group projects on one common Glog”.